‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7, Episode 1: A Tale of Two Maps

Season 7, Episode 1, ‘Dragonstone’

If you have designs on a dynasty, the first thing you have to do is get yourself a sweet map.

That was one lesson from the Season 7 premiere of “Game of Thrones,” as the story’s two most powerful queens plotted on opposite sides of Blackwater Bay. But there were others: Shared leadership is best shared out of public view. Be decent to people, lest you later find their skeletons in your closet. The pursuit of knowledge can be a filthy business.

And if your cantankerous uncle unexpectedly invites you to a festive party, with lots of toasting and wine, maybe let him take the first sip.

[Want exclusive “Game of Thrones” explainers as well as the internet’s best articles on this week’s episode?

Sunday’s episode, largely picking up where the Season 6 finale left off, sketched out the contours of the clashes to come, suggesting some possible paths of convergence and identifying free agents who will fill in the gaps.

After years of billowing story and cast, it was striking to note how the action hinged mostly on people we have been with from the beginning: Cersei and Jaime Lannister; Jon Snow; Sansa, Arya and Bran Stark; Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion. Even the Hound — now riding with the unkillable Beric Dondarrion and Thoros, the Myrish red priest with Brooklyn bartender styling — has been around, off and on, since the pilot.

Excited for “Game of Thrones”?

Sign up for our new weekly newsletter.

The world of the show is smaller, too, as suggested by those maps. Pretty much everyone of note is back in Westeros, a land at least nominally ruled by a woman who has been around King’s Landing long enough to know that claiming the Iron Throne and keeping it are two very different things.

“It’s ours now, we just have to take it,” Cersei told Jaime, walking over a freshly painted survey of the empire she plans to keep in the family for a millennium.

What family? Jaime wondered. All our children are dead. And with enemies in every direction, how are we going to stay on top without any allies to help us? “We can’t win this war alone,” he said.

Cue the pirate king. Euron Greyjoy arrived last season aiming to kill his relatives and take control of the Iron Islands. He was largely successful, tossing Balon off a bridge and being named ruler, but Yara and Theon took off with the boats and pledged them to Team Targaryen. Give me some ships and I will give you the world, Euron

We saw the result on Sunday, as Euron arrived with his new fleet and plans for an alliance via a marriage proposal. “Here I am with a thousand ships and two good hands,” he said, clearly annoying Jaime, but even he would have to admit it’s a pretty funny line. (Pilou Asbaek struck an agreeable note of malevolent arrogance — his Euron could be a fun villain.)